RALEIGH — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is warning the public that a photograph of a mountain lion purported to be taken in western North Carolina is actually from Texas.A photograph that has been circulating, mainly via e-mail in the western counties of the state, shows a mountain lion dragging a deer. Some report that the photo was taken in the Marion area, while others say it was taken in Old Fort or Burnsville.

In reality, the photo was taken by a trail camera on a ranch in south Texas, where mountain lions are common.

It is one of several mountain lion hoaxes that have circulated through several states in the past few weeks, and the e-mails in each state claim that the photograph was taken locally.

Over the past several years there have been at least three such mountain lion hoaxes and, in each case, the same photographs are passed around by e-mail and cell phone with text claiming that the photographs were taken locally.

One such hoax involves a photograph of a man posing with a dead mountain lion. The mountain lion was actually killed by a vehicle in Arizona and the man in the photograph is an Arizona Public Safety officer. Another is a series of photographs showing a mountain lion on a porch, but the home is actually in Wyoming.

There is no physical evidence to support the existence of a wild mountain lion population in North Carolina.

The only mountain lions that have been recovered in the state over the past 50 years were two adults that were shot and killed at a dumpster in eastern North Carolina in the 1980s. Examination of the two animals revealed that they had identification tattoos, indicating that they were illegally held captive animals that either escaped or were released.